Dr. Yazan Al-Khatib, Syrian-American Forum “Mint Press” and Journalists Dale Gavlak and Yahya Ababneh – I am not here to support the Assad regime. I am here to make certain facts known.

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http://edition.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/1309/06/pmt.01.html

Joining me now, a man who says the Assad regime fall, if the Assad regime falls, the country will be overrun by militants.

Dr. Hassan al-Khatib is a member of the Syrian American Forum and the cousin to Moaz al-Khatib, he’s the former President of the Syrian Opposition Coalition.

But let me be clear here, our guest here supports the Assad regime. Am I correct sir?

HASSAN AL-KHATIB, MEMBER OF THE SYRIAN AMERICAN FORUM: Actually I would reclassify what you said Piers (ph) good evening, a sad evening.

No I am not here to support the Assad regime. I am here to make certain facts known, if facts matter at all.

I’m just a doctor I’m not a politician and my family has always been a vocal critique of the tyranny and the corruption and all that.

That is not the issue and I’m not alone actually, many, many Syrians like me.

BERMAN: Let’s talk about the facts, let’s talk about the facts sir and I should make clear you are speaking here in front of the United States.

The President has laid out his case, he said that 1400 people have died including 400 children in this attack what he says involved chemical weapons.

The United States says they found signatures of Sarin gas as part of that attack.

The British now say they’ve actually tested and found Sarin and gas itself there, you don’t believe that to be the case?

AL-KHATIB: Well I mean, the facts that I see is report from BBC by Carla Del Ponte from a few month ago when the initial chemical attack occurred April or March and her words were very clear.

Her strongest suspicion was that the use was not by the Syrian Army and most likely it was not definitively by the rebels.

And so I’d like to make some definitions clear here, I mean opposition is opposition.

Militancy, terrorist militancy is a different story and our problem now is that the opposition has been hostaged, has been, you know hijacked by militant terrorism that is the problem.

It is not that we are saying and this is why I wanted to make sure I beg to differ with your initial characterization of myself.

We have been bullied, people like me who are moderate Syrians who have kept it to themselves for the longest time, we have been bullied every time we say, this is not the way to repair the problem into, your pro this and you’re pro that.

We are pro democracy for a pro realistic Syria. Syria has the rights of women protected, the freedom of religion protected and the facts going back into the facts do matter.

The only true journalistic report that came out of Syria out of this incident was actually published in Mint Press by journalists Dale Gavlak and Yahya Ababneh (ph) who I understand and I’m not an investigative journalist here.

[site:mintpressnews.com syria bandar]

http://www.mintpressnews.com/witnesses-of-gas-attack-say-saudis-supplied-rebels-with-chemical-weapons/168135/

I understand this is a pretty decorated journalist that writes for Associated Press and PR among others. And I would encourage the listeners to look into that report…

BERMAN: Dr. Hassan al-Khatib I do thank you very much right now.

See also:

Obama’s G20 Bid For Syria Strike Proves Lackluster
President Obama pressed for Syria strikes despite overwhelming global opposition, denouncing U.N. legal channels as “hocus pocus.”

http://www.mintpressnews.com/obamas-g20-bid-for-syria-strike-proves-lackluster/168558/

Options For Syria Peace Ignored As Obama Expands Target List
Reporting suggests the Pentagon is looking for more “targets” as some in Congress push for a deeper commitment to war.

http://www.mintpressnews.com/options-for-syria-peace-ignored-as-obama-expands-target-list/168561/

#Syria

Obama Warned on Syrian Intel
September 6, 2013

http://consortiumnews.com/2013/09/06/obama-warned-on-syrian-intel/

Exclusive: Despite the Obama administration’s supposedly “high confidence” regarding Syrian government guilt over the Aug. 21 chemical attack near Damascus, a dozen former U.S. military and intelligence officials are telling President Obama that they are picking up information that undercuts the Official Story.

MEMORANDUM FOR: The President

FROM: Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity (VIPS)

SUBJECT: Is Syria a Trap?

Precedence: IMMEDIATE

Excerpts:

We regret to inform you that some of our former co-workers are telling us, categorically, that contrary to the claims of your administration, the most reliable intelligence shows that Bashar al-Assad was NOT responsible for the chemical incident that killed and injured Syrian civilians on August 21, and that British intelligence officials also know this. In writing this brief report, we choose to assume that you have not been fully informed because your advisers decided to afford you the opportunity for what is commonly known as “plausible denial.”

[….]

The Intelligence

There is a growing body of evidence from numerous sources in the Middle East — mostly affiliated with the Syrian opposition and its supporters — providing a strong circumstantial case that the August 21 chemical incident was a pre-planned provocation by the Syrian opposition and its Saudi and Turkish supporters. The aim is reported to have been to create the kind of incident that would bring the United States into the war.

[….]

For the Steering Group, Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity

Thomas Drake, Senior Executive, NSA (former)

Philip Giraldi, CIA, Operations Officer (ret.)

Matthew Hoh, former Capt., USMC, Iraq & Foreign Service Officer, Afghanistan

Larry Johnson, CIA & State Department (ret.)

W. Patrick Lang, Senior Executive and Defense Intelligence Officer, DIA (ret.)

David MacMichael, National Intelligence Council (ret.)

Ray McGovern, former US Army infantry/intelligence officer & CIA analyst (ret.)

Elizabeth Murray, Deputy National Intelligence Officer for Middle East (ret.)

Todd Pierce, US Army Judge Advocate General (ret.)

Sam Provance, former Sgt., US Army, Iraq

Coleen Rowley, Division Council & Special Agent, FBI (ret.)

Ann Wright, Col., US Army (ret); Foreign Service Officer (ret.)

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